Allow us to summarise why EcoGrid just works naturally with resin bound stone:

Less excavation

Stronger load distribution

More permeability

Easy to fit

No messy additional tools required

An environmentally aware solution

Installations can accept resin bound stone immediately

If resin cannot be applied due to inclement weather, the surface can still be driven upon safely and cleanly

Tarmac has a shorter lifespan and no guarantee

Tarmac is no longer accepted as a sustainable base system by BREEAM

Resin bound stone is a new and effective way of providing a highly aesthetic surface for your home or business premises. It can be installed internally or externally to provide a surface that is both very robust and load bearing, but also fully permeable. This means that any water that hits the surface will freely drain through the resin bound topping and through the EcoGrid base system to naturally dissipate in to the water table.

These types of surfaces have an obvious advantage in current times as they are free draining and therefore effectively add to flood risk prevention. A resin bound surface is SuDS compliant and requires no planning permission; an important fact with the newly introduced surface water regulations.

In the past, resin bound stone was floated over a variety of sub-bases such as porous asphalt, tarmac or shredded rubber. While these are perfectly acceptable sub-bases, they are not very environmentally friendly, difficult to lay, very costly and require a high skill set to install.

The EcoGrid system employs patented EcoGrid paving as the permeable, load bearing base. This is a product that is made from completely recycled materials and has a load bearing capability up to 800 tonnes per square metre. The grids carry a patented locking mechanism that is unique to this product and ensures that once the grid is locked in place, it stays in place. The grid system has a low surface area of exposed plastic, allowing a strong bond between the stone infill and the resin bound surface.

The most commonly sold aggregate blends that we offer here at EcoGrid.

Our resin needs no activator and is stronger than most; you get a ratio of resin to aggregate of 7.5KG to 112 KG (4 x 25kg bags, 1 x 12.5kg bag silica) of dried aggregate. This ratio of resin to stone allows for more cost-effective installations, since up to 16% less aggregate is required for standard installations.

Excavation can be from as little as 180mm for standard vehicle domestic applications meaning that there are a number of inherent advantages: Less excavation therefore less waste to landfill and quicker preparation; Less requirement for hard-core; Swift installation of the entire base system at 100 metres per man per hour; No down time due to inclement weather as the base can be laid in the wet; No inconvenience to clients as the grids are immediately load bearing.

We will give you a delivered price for all that you need and swiftly dispatch the goods direct to site. They come on a tail lift vehicle and by use of a pallet truck, carried to the site edge ready for use.

If you cover more than five square metres using traditional materials that don’t let water through, you need planning permission.

These rules apply to the area of land between the front walls of the house and the highway. This is classed as in curtilage.

surfacing is not acceptable/deemed permeable in the following scenarios:

Over-lays to existing concrete or Tarmacadam surfacing even if the concrete/Tarmacadam has been drilled or altered in any way to make it ‘permeable’ unless the existing concrete did not fall to roadways or to existing house drains. Such alteration is prone to clogging with surface detritus.

Any surfacing falls to existing gulley points around the house

Any surfacing is found to fall to roadways or outside of the property.

Surfacing is not deemed permeable:

If any of the surface courses are not deemed permeable such as type 1 with a high fines content sub-base, open grade tarmacadam with too high a tar content which would inhibit permeability.

Infiltration and attenuation

Surface water can be directed away from traditional drainage points or falls to roadways by the use of attenuation systems, rainwater harvesting systems or infiltration systems.

Infitration

Known as soakaways in the past, usually formed from excavating a pit and filling with clean stone. Problem is that the void ratio was only 30%. Modern systems are formed with the use of crated soakaways wrapped with a geotextile fabric towards which surface falls are directed. Surface water enters the infiltration system via falls or channel drains and fills the system. Water dissipates over a non-specific period of time.

Attenuation

This is similar to an infiltration system but the crate is wrapped with a non-permeable membrane. Flow out of the system is regulated by a flow control such as a vortex flow control device. E.G 30 litres per second.

Rainwater Harvesting

A system that consists of an underground or above ground tank. Rainwater is still attenuated but can also be used for various uses around the house such as garden watering, car washing, toilet flushing.

Sure, there are a lot of other grids out there, we know EcoGrid is the best but it is fair enough that you may not and may not believe us. Try it! We know that you won’t be disappointed but if you don’t want to, ask yourself

Can I take one grid apart from the next one easily? If you can, they are unlikely to stay together when in situ.

Is my grid system temperature compliant for resin bound stone? Materials like HDPE or mixed plastics expand at different rates to resin. EcoGrid has been tested to expand at the same rate as resin.

Is the grid system made from HDPE or a hard plastic? EcoGrid is made from specially selected LDPE which means it is flexible and strong. A hard plastic may crack and show through the resin bound surface.

I don’t trust the grids and will stick with Tarmac

Fair enough, trying any new method of construction can be daunting. We did our due diligence many years ago and have been supplying grids for driveways for over 11 years now. Tarmac will also not be around forever, it is oil based and will continue to rise in price whilst being less and less acceptable as a sustainable system due to the leaching of chemicals in to the aquifers/water-table

I don’t excavate anyway, I drill holes in existing tarmac to make it drain.

Well, I suppose you can but this is not a permeable solution and is not acceptable under SuDS guidelines for planners. A permeable surface is one that is free draining from the top surface, right through all layers to the water table or excavation layer. There must be no run-off either to the roadway or to the household drains. These planning regulations came in to force in 2008 but have only been enforced in recent years because of flood risk prevention.

SO, WHICH ECOGRID?

The following grid options are suitable for your desired application. Learn more about each on the EcoGrid product pages.

EcoGrid E30

EcoGrid E40

EcoGrid E50

Fully permeable. Kind to the environment.

100% free draining providing a complete SuDS solution. EcoGrid is carbon neutral and has zero effect on the environment. EcoGrid is made from specially selected plastics that would otherwise be sent to landfill.

Complete packages available.

Our loading capacities are independently tested and published. Our range is fully tested and approved by the European TUV and RAL centres. EcoGrid is also a fully approved NATO supply product with tens of thousands sold worldwide.

Unrivalled solution. The World’s #1.

With over 1.5 million sqm sold in 2017, EcoGrid is unrivalled in product sales. With a fully automated, sustainable European factory. We also go ‘the extra’ mile with technical advice and general assistance.

WHEREVER
YOU NEED IT

EcoGrid can be used for a huge variety of applications; from lightweight landscaping implementations to heavyweight aviation surfacing. We will look at your project and suggest a complete packaged solution to suit your needs. We have a 20+ year history of global case studies.